A low-risk, low-reward endorsement

John Edwards reportedly is set to endorse Barack Obama. The only interesting issue pertaining to this endorsement is why it came so late.

I’m hardly in a position to answer with confidence, but I think the answer has to do with gutlessness. In this account, Edwards feared that if he endorsed Obama only to see him routed among low income and rural white voters (the voters the former North Carolina Senator sees as his natural constituency), Edwards would look bad. After last night’s version of that rout in West Virginia, Edwards probably figures Obama has hit bottom among this cohort. Thus, the endorsement is embarrassment proof.